A photo gallery on peacekeeping
and peacemaking issues

Peacekeeping is a way to help countries torn by conflict create conditions for sustainable peace. United Nations peacekeepers — soldiers and military officers, civilian police officers and civilian personnel from many countries—monitor and observe peace processes that emerge in post-conflict situations and assist ex-combatants to implement the peace agreements they have signed. Such assistance comes in many forms, including confidence-building measures, power-sharing arrangements, electoral support, strengthening the rule of law, and economic and social development.

The challenges that face United Nations peacekeeping today are immense. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, the UN is supporting a transitional government in a huge country with minimal infrastructure and little national cohesion. It is building up its mission in Liberia and managing the downsizing of UN operations in Sierra Leone. At the same time, new crises have flared and new peace agreements have been signed. Recently expanded operations are in Côte d'Ivoire and newly established missions in Burundi and Sudan..

Peacemaking refers to the use of diplomatic means to persuade parties in conflict to cease hostilities and to negotiate a peaceful settlement of their dispute. As with preventive action, the United Nations can often play a role if the parties to the dispute agree that it should do so. Peacemaking thus excludes the use of force against one of the parties to enforce an end to hostilities, an activity that in United Nations parlance is referred to as "peace enforcement".

The Secretary-General as peacemaker: The Secretary---General plays a central role in peacemaking, both personally and by dispatching special envoys or missions for specific tasks, such as negotiation or fact-finding. Under the Charter, the Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter that might threaten the maintenance of international peace and security. To help resolve disputes, the Secretary-General may use his "good offices" for mediation or to exercise preventive diplomacy. The impartiality of the Secretary-General is one of the United Nations' great assets. In many instances, the Secretary-General has been instrumental in averting a threat to peace or in securing a peace agreement. Cases in Africa, such as Mozambique and Namibia, reflect the many different ways the Secretary-General becomes involved as a peacemaker .

Cooperating with regional organizations: In the search for peace in Africa, the United Nations has increasingly cooperated with regional organizations and other actors and mechanisms provided for in Chapter VIII of the Charter. It has worked closely with the Economic Community of West African States in Liberia and Sierra Leone, and the African Union (AU) in Western Sahara, the Great Lakes region, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and Eritrea. United Nations military observers have cooperated with peacekeeping forces of regional organizations in Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

Peace-building: Peace-building refers to all external efforts to assist countries and regions in their transitions from war to peace, and include all activities and programmes designed to support and strengthen these transitions. The UN's role is often centered on facilitating the implementation of a peace agreement. Effective peace-building also requires concurrent and integrated action on many different fronts: military, diplomatic, political, economic, social, humanitarian, and the many imponderables that go to make up a coherent and stable social fabric. These efforts range from demilitarization to building up national institutions, including police and judicial systems; promoting human rights; monitoring elections; encouraging formal and informal processes of political participation; providing sustainable sources of livelihood to demobilized combatants and returning refugees and displaced persons, through training programmes, the reactivation of the economy and the provision of social services; and stimulating the normal process of economic and social development which will benefit the population as a whole and provide the most secure basis for lasting peace. At the heart of peace-building is the attempt to build a new and legitimate state, one which will have in future the capacity to peacefully manage disputes, protect its civilians and ensure respect for basic human rights

Action by a wide array of organizations Peace-building involves action by a wide array of organizations of the United Nations system, including the World Bank, regional economic and other organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and local citizens' groups. Peace-building in Africa has played a prominent role in UN operations in Mozambique, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. A recent example of inter-state peace-building has been the UN mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea .

A considerable part of the work of the UN Department of Political Affairs is done in support of special representatives and envoys of the Secretary-General, as well as field-based missions and offices. There are Department-supported missions currently in Bougainville, Burundi, Central African Republic, the Great Lakes Region, Somalia and West Africa.

Electorial Assistance: The UN has been involved in the field of electoral assistance since its founding in 1945. Its Charter enshrines the principle of self-determination and places the promotion and protection of human rights as one of the Organization's central purposes. United Nations efforts today represent the culmination of decades of work in the area of elections, both in developing international standards and through assistance to Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories in their efforts to achieve self-determination. United Nations electoral assistance historically included advancing the principle of self-determination of peoples through the development of self-government and decolonization. In the modern period, it has entailed establishing and advancing the principle of democracy and political rights. The United Nations system is engaged in a wide range of development assistance activities which are intended to support the efforts of governments to promote democratic election processes. Since 1989, the United Nations has received over 140 requests for electoral assistance from Member States. who most often seek advice and assistance on the legal, technical, administrative, and human rights aspects of organizing and conducting democratic elections or seek the Organization's assistance in supporting the international observation of an electoral process. For more information on UN electoral assistance, click here

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